Still from Jane and Louise Wilson’s Proton, Unity, Energy, Blizzard
a fourchannel video installation at 303 Gallery
A Soviet Flyboy Pines for the Wilson Sisters
by Charlie Finch
I’m an old astronaut,
Yuri, if you please,
dreaming in my Dacha
of Jane and Louise
The Moscow Space Center
was heaven for me —
all that’s left is my spacesuit
for Jane and Louise
The place was top secret
on a cold Russian plain,
now a few buzzards cackle
for Louise and Jane
The boosters were powerful,
the throw weight insane,
now the hardware just rusts there
for Louise and Jane
I walked out of my space craft
high above the earth’s seas,
now I’m shuffling through corridors
with Jane and Louise
The hammer and sickle,
red flags in the breeze,
now lie at the feet
of Jane and Louise
I wolf down a vodka,
I walk in the rain,
my shattered dreams pictured
by Louise and Jane
The borscht in my samovar
is flushed down the drain —
all I’ve got is this snapshot
of Louise and Jane
We rattle our tin cups:
“A few rubles, please”
from the Bohen Foundation
and Jane and Louise
Their art is a lovely,
intelligent tease.
I abandoned all glory
for Jane and Louise
Defenestrate patriot
tunes from the brain —
the true motherland
is Louise and Jane
(Originally published on artnet.com)
